Generally, in an off-road vehicle, air is introduced into an engine from an upper portion of a cavity defined by a fender, a fender apron and a fender liner, which cavity is in a relatively dust-free environment (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-104241). Therefore, from a viewpoint of preventing entry of dust, dirt or other such substances, it is not preferred that an opening is formed in the fender liner. However, the off-road vehicle or other such vehicles may sometimes travel while a bumper is immersed in water. In such a case, water can enter an inside area of the fender liner via the bumper. Therefore, if no drain opening is formed in the fender liner, the water can sometimes move upwardly along the fender liner while the vehicle is moving, so as to reach an inlet port of the engine. In order to prevent such a problem, as shown in FIG. 5 (A), a plurality of drain openings 103 are formed in a front portion of the fender liner 102.
Generally, the drain openings 103 are respectively formed in a substantially vertically extending surface and are opened so as to be horizontally forwardly directed. Therefore, each of the drain openings 103 may have an extremely small opening area when viewed in a vertical direction. As a result, muddy water or the like splashed upwardly can be effectively prevented from easily entering the inside area of the fender liner 102 via the drain openings 103.
However, because the drain openings 103 are respectively opened to be horizontally forwardly directed as described above, each of the drain openings 103 may have a larger opening area when viewed in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5(B), mud or other such substances splashed forwardly via a tread portion of a front wheel T while the vehicle is moving can easily enter the inside area of the fender liner 102 via the drain openings 103. The mud or other such substances introduced into the inside area of the fender liner 102 may cause rust development in the fender. In addition, the mud or other such substances introduced into the inside area of the fender liner 102 cannot be easily removed therefrom.
Therefore, there is a need in the art to prevent the mud or other such substances splashed forwardly via the front wheel from easily entering the fender via the drain openings of the fender liner, and to prevent the muddy water splashed upwardly from reaching the inlet port of the engine via the drain openings.